■ Sherry Lansing was one of the most financially successful, most
enduring, and well-liked executives in Hollywood. She was hired in 1980 as
the first woman president of a major U.S. film studio. Her intelligence,
toughness, graciousness, and creative instincts propelled her to success
as the chairman at Paramount Pictures. The
Los Angeles Business Journal
described Lansing as not "just the most powerful woman in
Holly-wood—she's the most powerful woman in the history of
the entertainment industry" (July 19, 1999).

THE ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD

Lansing, a self-described "nice Jewish girl," fell in love
with the movies while growing up in Chicago. After earning a degree

Sherry Lansing.

AP/Wide World Photos/Fashion Wire Daily

.

in speech and theater from Northwestern University in 1966, she set out
for Hollywood. Lansing spent three years as a high school teacher in the
tough Watts district of Los Angeles and worked as a bit-part actress and
commercial model before finding her niche in the entertainment industry.
Discovering that her talents would be better used behind the scenes,
Lansing got a job reading movie scripts for $5 per script. In 1972 Lansing
landed her first full-time movie job as a story editor.

CAREER BEFORE PARAMOUNT

Lansing started her career at the bottom of the movie studio system, but
she quickly advanced through the ranks. In 1975 she became chief story
editor at MGM and in 1977 was promoted to vice president of creative
affairs at MGM. Lansing then moved to Columbia Pictures, where she was the
senior
vice president of production. In 1980 in a controversial move 20th
Century Fox hired Lansing, at age 35, to be the head of production. In
this role instead of producing films Lansing watched over all the films
produced by Fox and helped determine whether a proposal was worthy of
financial backing. In the three years she stayed at Fox, Lansing released
only two hit films,
Porky's
, and
The Verdict
. Lansing reportedly believed her superiors too often overrode her
decisions and undermined her authority. In 1983 Lansing resigned her
position at Fox and returned to producing films in an independent
production company, Jaffe-Lansing Productions, formed with Stanley R.
Jaffe, the producer of
Kramer vs. Kramer
. Lansing enjoyed the return to hands-on work, telling
California Business
magazine, "I enjoyed the time at Fox, but I was too removed from
movie-making by administrative duties" (March 1987).

Until 1992 Lansing produced with Jaffe and on her own films such as
Fatal Attraction
and
The Accused
. Successful and happy, Lansing eschewed taking another executive
position. In 1991 she married William Friedkin, the director of
The Exorcist
, and family life made supervising film shoots all over the world less
appealing. When Paramount Pictures, with which Jaffe-Lansing Productions
had had long-term financing and distribution deals, in 1992 offered her
the position of chairman, Lansing accepted.

PARAMOUNT

As of 2004 Lansing was the most senior head of a major studio. Her
longevity was credited to her ability to provide Paramount's parent
company, Viacom, with consistent annual profits, which she had done from
the beginning of her tenure. As chairman of Paramount Motion Pictures
Group, Lansing reported until mid-2004 to the chairman of Viacom
Entertainment Group, Jonathan Dolgen. Dolgen emphasized fiscal
conservatism and profitability, which influenced Lansing to manage
Paramount somewhat differently from other major studios. Whereas most
studios were focusing on increasing market share, Lansing said her
performance was judged on the profitability of that year's slate of
movies. She was careful to match the appropriate budget to each script,
which Lansing vigorously reviewed and edited before approving a project.
Lansing and Dolgen actively pursued "flexible financing."
Paramount often shared costs with other studios or partners, such as the
actors involved, to minimize its cost. In the case of
Titanic
, Paramount capped its spending at $65 million and left Fox to fund the
budget overruns.

Critics contended that Paramount was too conservative, hierarchical, and
profit driven. They said Lansing's leadership produced bland, safe,
formulaic movies and pointed to the studio's lack of Academy Awards
in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Lansing argued that she backed several
movies with unusual concepts that were highly successful. Films like
Forrest Gump, Braveheart
, and
The Truman Show
were such hits that people did not remember what a risk they had been to
produce. In early 2004, however, Lansing admitted that the Paramount
business model needed to change and shifted to one that embraced more
risk. Lansing increased film budgets and focused on attracting new
directors and stars for high-profile films. In June 2004 Dolgen resigned
from his position.

MANAGEMENT STYLE

In a business legendary for big egos and high tempers, Sherry Lansing was
called the "Queen of Cool." She was known for her
graciousness and courtesy, for returning every phone call, and for calling
everyone "honey." She was praised for her people
skills—for her abilities both to reject projects graciously and to
work with difficult bosses and coworkers. Said one producer who worked
with Paramount, "People almost like getting a no from Sherry just
to study her process" (January 27, 2003). Lansing also was tough
when required, dressing down directors and anyone else who needed it.

BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

Much of the attention Lansing received, at least early in her career, was
due to the newsworthiness of a woman's making it in a man's
world. She first experienced discrimination when she was promoted to the
head of her department in 1975. Lansing was not paid as much as men in
similar positions and was told she could not have a raise because she was
single with no family to support. Even when she had worked her way up the
ladder and was appointed the head of Fox in 1980, many in Hollywood
regarded the move as a frivolous, "figurehead" one. As
Lansing stated in 2002, "The
New York Times
front-page headline was 'Ex-Model Becomes Head of Fox'.
They discounted that I had spent 15 years in the business" (July
15, 2002). Lansing proved her worth by succeeding in her position as a
woman and not by fitting in to the male paradigm regarding her
interactions or decisions. "Sherry's the first executive who
succeeded by being a woman, not trying to be a guy," said one of
Hollywood's top filmmakers in
Variety
. "She can be maternal, she can be sexy, she can use her femininity
to be manipulative, but she's always, brilliantly, a woman"
(November 8, 1999).

Lansing admitted that being a woman affected the kind of movies she made.
She was one of the first executives in decades to make movies with strong
woman characters, such as those in
Fatal Attraction
and
The Accused
. At Paramount, Lansing continued to support films with woman-oriented
story lines and appeal, such as
The First Wives Club
and
Double Jeopardy
. Lansing's success in reaching not only audiences of women but
also general audiences with films such as
Mission: Impossible
opened the door for other women executives, such as Amy Pascal,
the chairman of Columbia Pictures, and Stacey Snider, the chairman of
Universal Studios.

See also
entries on Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc., Paramount Pictures
Corporation, and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in
International Directory of Company Histories
.